Is this a real season of ‘Survivor’ or just a bit? Last week’s freak show was bad enough but this week was downright inexplicable. There’s no way that the entire gang of castaways failed to answer this math problem: 11 – 1. That’s ‘eleven minus one’. So everyone ‘froze’ under pressure? Here’s how Entertainment Weekly described the mathematical fiasco with a focus on Chrissy Hofbeck:

She’s a fraud. A total, absolute, and complete fraud. That can be the only takeaway from tonight’s Survivor. She was billed as a human calculator — able to compute large numbers in a single bound (and on little sleep or food). On her Survivor bio, she listed as one of her Personal Claims to Fame that she “graduated from Penn (as a math major!) and MIT.” She analyzed contestants like data when deciding early on which Hero to align with. But it was all a show — a dance, if you will.

Because here is one math equation that Chrissy — and seemingly every other person still in the game— was unable to solve on the spot at the latest Tribal Council: What is 11 minus 1?

Entertainment writers are usually much more tolerant of reality show nonsense but it sure sounds like this season is grating on the nerves of Entertainment Weekly’s Dalton Ross.

So here’s what happened–Desiree Williams was eliminated and while this was something of a surprise in some circles for me not so much. She was our fourth choice to be eliminated at +500 meaning that Joe Mena will remain the favorite to get the boot for yet another week. Ryan Ulrich remains our top choice at +225 followed by Chrissy Hofbeck and Ben Driebergen at +300. The biggest mover of the past week is Lauren Rimmer. Rimmer has been at our near the top of our ‘next to be eliminated’ market for most of the season but is now the fourth choice to win it all at +500. Rimmer has stayed out of everyone’s way which often can be the ticket for an early exit. On the other hand, if this is played correctly it can keep you in the game until the field gets cut down to a reasonable number at which point you can go to work.

The ratings for Episode 8 showed some decent bounceback from a disappointing Episode 7 viewership. The rating improved from 1.6 to 1.7 with the share remaining at 6. Even better, the show attracted over 1 million more viewers (8.85 million) than in the previous week (7.82 million). Hopefully for the sake of the ratings this group of 1 million additional viewers won’t tune out after discovering the dire ‘sausage fest’ situation.

In the previous four propositions pixelation must be due to accidental or intentional nudity and not due to obscene gestures or any other reason. Official information source for grading the previous for props is PickPete’s fantasy game recap.

About the Author: Jim Murphy

For more than 25 years, Jim Murphy has written extensively on sports betting as well as handicapping theory and practice. Jim Murphy has been quoted in media from the Wall Street Journal to REASON Magazine. Murphy worked as a radio and podcasting host broadcasting to an international audience that depended on his expertise and advice. Murphy is an odds making consultant for sports and 'non-sport novelty bets' focused on the entertainment business, politics, technology, financial markets and more.